Held in the Ballroom at the Port Douglas Rydges Resort, the Port Douglas Miss Carnivale 2010 contest reached it's climax with all seven contestants given a last chance to impress the four man, (well two ladies and two gentlemen actually), panel of judges and a 90 strong ticketed audience.

The evening opened with an excellent dance routine by the girls from Bodies in Motion. Crocs captain and Port Douglas Radio star, 'Buddha' Hocking then followed hot on their heels and made some 'unnecessary noise' by entertaining everyone with a terrific stand up comedy routine. (Ed Note: Is there no end to this man's talents?)

The business proceedings then commenced with the incorrigible Dave '00' Evans from Goodies Cafe in Mossman and the lovely and indefatigable event organiser Corrine Durie from Taste of Port Douglas acting as MCs. Chaperoned by two strapping and willing Crocs players in the shape of 'Bloomy' and 'Powelly', the Miss Carnivale contestants were each escorted onto the stage to show off their talents on the cat walk with a swimwear fashion parade. All the swimwear was provided by Tshinta, the superb swimwear store on Macrossan Street in Port Douglas.

To find out a little bit about each hopeful, '00' chatted with each contestant under the watchful eye of Corrine.  After about 45mins, just enough time to get in a great feed from the superb Rydges kitchen team, the girls 'strutted their stuff' for a second time. On this occasion they wore their own choice of elegant evening gowns. MC '00' Dave, again put the girls through their paces with some testing questions with Corrine still protectively guarding her wards from any unnecessary probing.

Having survived his penetrating questioning the girls were led away to relax briefly while the all important decisions were mulled over.  To assist the judges in their choice, the audience were asked to vote for their favourite and these votes were handed over but the ultimate selection was in the hands solely of the four specially chosen expert judges.

After another display of cabaret dancing from the Bodies in Motion girls, the coveted crown of Miss Carnivale 2010 was to be announced. The seven nervous contestants were brought back on the stage for one last time and the announcement made. The winner of Miss Carnivale 2010 was Sophie Stevenson from LJ Hooker. At this point the crowd went crazy and Sophie was duly crowned with the 'diamond' laden Tiara and the official Sash of her office.

There were two other winners on the night. The winner of the 'Peoples Choice' Vote on the night was Mel Boon and the contestant who raised the most money for this year's chosen charity. This was Samantha Robertson from Radio Port Douglas with over $3,000 going to Breast Cancer Charity.

In fact a massive total of over $8,000 was raised by all the contestants, which was a fantastic effort by everyone involved.

So now Sophie Stevenson in her year long capacity as Miss Carnivale 2010 will be the centre of attention at the Street Parade, this coming Friday and then take up her duties throughout the year until we do it all again next year.

Editors Comments: Well done Sophie, Sam, Mel and the other wonderful contestants and well done to the sponsors and especially well done to Corrine, the event organiser for a terrific contest this year. Each and everyone of you was a winner on the night but the biggest winner was the chosen Charity and the Community for having such enthusiasm at the start of this Carnivale 2010.